The Theorists
by hiimian
Summary: Marvin White is at his wit's end. Nobody believes what he saw happen to Connor on Halloween night; nobody, that is, until a mysterious stranger shows up to join forces. A loving look at the background characters left in the wake of the superheroes' antics. From the writer of "Recognized," though this is not necessarily in the same 'universe' as that story.


What's this? A non-_Recognized_ update?! Imagine that!

This idea came to me a few months ago and I've been fiddling with it ever since. I've had it sitting in my files waiting for beta-ing before publishing, but even after it was beta'd a couple different times, I still wasn't happy. Even now, I think it has more potential, but I haven't had any ideas worth delaying its publishing any more.

Enjoy!

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I do not own _Young Justice_ nor _Danny Phantom_.

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**THE THEORISTS**

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It wasn't difficult for the other patrons to notice the boy's duress. With frazzled eyes slightly bloodshot and unruly hair typically tousled, Marvin White sat alone in his booth along the picture windows. The bustling, old-Americana diner near the Happy Harbor marina buzzed with life, a mix of teens happy to be free for Thanksgiving break and senior citizens chatting at their usual tables. The boy watched everyone as they passed by with trays of food or leaned on each other for support during a laughing fit. He felt isolated, overlooked, ignored, despondent.

Marvin's laptop sat open on the table, a forum for supernatural activity enthusiasts dominating the screen. Flinching at every particularly loud clink of a utensil, he wrung his hands together while staring distractedly out the window. Marvin's fidgeting would have been annoying had anyone been at the table with him. Unfortunately, he had become somewhat of a pariah over the past couple weeks; the failed Halloween prank had wreaked havoc on his reputation and social standing.

"Order up for...MARVIN?" came a loud cry from the counter. Marvin twitched violently and sent his water cup flying. A few people nearby looked over, but the loud clatter of his cup mostly blended into the background noise.

"Hey, Marvin the Martian! Getting used to Earth gravity again?" one of his classmates shouted. It elicited a few snickers from the other high schoolers present.

The counter girl, Marvin's economics project partner named Mim, groaned loudly once she realized _which_ Marvin's order—and spilled water—it was. She threw her head back in frustration before coming over to his booth. The waitress slammed the tray against the tabletop and unsettled a few fries. "You gotta pull yourself together, man. It's been almost a _month_ since Halloween. Let the joke die already."

"You don't get it, Mim," he hissed. "_I know what I saw._"

"Yeah. A giant, real-life Looney Toon attacking the school."

"No. _That_ was fake. But what _made it _was real! There are metahumans at Happy Harbor High, I'm telling you!"

"Yeah. Sure. In *this* backwater?" Mim sashayed away to fetch a towel and mop to wipe up the water.

Marvin sighed and shoved a fistful of fries into his mouth, chewing spitefully. One month. One month of being called crazy. One whole month of _believing_ he was going crazy.

"You're right, you know."

Marvin choked on a fry at the sound of the voice right behind his head. He whirled around and saw a back-to-front Cleveland Indians baseball cap.

"Were you there? A-at Halloween?" Marvin asked, then whispered, _"Are you one of them?"_

The mystery boy chuckled. "No." He turned his head to look at Marvin over his shoulder. The single eye visible from Marvin's perspective was half-lidded, knowing, quietly confident as it peeked over a dark pair of wayfarer sunglasses which had slid down his nose. Untold mysteries danced in that pupil. "But I'm going through something similar myself."

Marvin's eyes widened. "You are?!" he asked, voice breaking.

The stranger simply nodded. He took a sip of his milkshake and slid smoothly out of his booth. He grabbed a backpack from his seat and, milkshake in hand, sat across from Marvin. "Tell me what you know."

"I- uh- well, I don't _know_ anything; it's all theory right now but-"

"Hey, gotta start somewhere," the stranger encouraged. Marvin realized this mystery man couldn't be much older than himself, if not younger. Another teen, another insignificant background character in the world of superheroes.

"Right. Well. It all started last Halloween, see? I was pulling off an epic prank on the whole school and had them convinced Martians were invading."

"But Martian Manhunter-"

"-is a good guy, aaaannd already here," Marvin interrupted. "Yeah, I know. But when you send out a couple fake news stories, send a well-placed tweet here and there, and hack the PA system at a high school dance—? Those saps will believe anything. Well…_almost_ anything. It was all going great, but then I went outside and-" His voice died. The terror of seeing a real-life Martian telekinetically thrust the new kid against the wall replayed in his mind. Marvin rubbed his forehead before looking back at the newcomer. "Connor Kent _should have been_ dead, or at least in the hospital. He got slammed against the building then pinned to the parking lot, all with telekinesis! And two minutes later, he's walking around acting like I'm crazy!"

"I know the feeling. Nobody believes me either," the other teen commented bitterly.

"Believes you?"

Marvin's guest scratched nervously at his temple. A tuft of hair escaped from under the snapback, strands blazing a color rivaled only by those of Archie Andrews. "Like I said, I'm in a similar situation."

"Point is, Connor should _not_ be alive. Not if he were _human_, but if he were _superhuman_…" The waitress finally returned with another water. Marvin took a large gulp before continuing. "So it got me thinkin': Who does Connor Kent look like? And then it hit me: Muscular, black hair, blue eyes, and apparently indestructible…he looks kinda like _Superman!"_

At the Kryptonian's hissed name, the elderly couple in the table across the aisle perked up and turned to look at Marvin and mystery boy. Marvin smiled awkwardly before leaning in, the stranger mirroring his shift in posture.

"There's a rumor," Marvin spoke in a low tone, "of a new group of metahumans and heroes based right here in Happy Harbor. Mount Justice has been shut down for years, but a couple months ago, it all of a sudden started showing signs of life—odd aircraft flying by, mysterious rumbling sounds, abnormal weather patterns—I mean, come on, tornadoes in Rhode Island? Anyway, nobody knows who they are or even thinks they exist, but I think I can guess: the Justice League protégés."

The stranger grinned in satisfaction and leaned back in his seat.

"The only thing is, how does this explain the Martian?" Marvin asked.

"I have an answer for you," Marvin's table-mate replied. "A Martian."

Marvin gave him a flat look. "What."

"Think about it: What's the name of the green-skinned alien in the Justice League?"

"…Martian Manhunter?"

"Which team member is a known _shapeshifter_?"

"Martian Manhunter…"

"Aaaaannnnnnnd is he the only Martian in the universe?"

"Well, no..."

"Boom." The visitor dramatically took off his sunglasses and made direct eye contact. His iris' brilliant emerald hue pierced Marvin's psyche and silenced any disagreement. "A shapeshifting, telekinetic alien girl and a suspiciously Superman-y-looking boy could be the answer. _That's _what I came all the way here for."

Mim rematerialized with a rag and stood expectantly at the head of the table. After a few seconds of staring at each other in awkward silence, Marvin finally asked, "Can I help you?"

"Move your crap so I can wipe up the water, moron!"

"O-oh." Marvin shut and put away his laptop before lifting his tray. His guest moved his milkshake out of the way as well.

"Don't get mixed up with this loon if you know what's good for you," Mim muttered to the redhead as she cleaned. "Kid's psycho, always telling ghost stories. Now he thinks he saw aliens or somethin'."

Marvin glowered.

"Oh I don't know," the stranger said. "I enjoy a good ghost story, even more so when it's true."

"Oh, great, another theorist," Mim snipped and rolled her eyes. Having finished wiping, she straightened her posture and tidied her apron. "Well you can forget about getting my number after all," she added haughtily.

Confused, Marvin's guest said, "But, I never asked-?"

"Sorry, were we talking?" she interrupted. And at that, Mim disappeared.

Marvin and the visitor shared a look before shaking their heads and each taking some fries.

"So, why _did _you come here?" Marvin asked.

The other boy swallowed his food. "I heard rumors of inhuman activity here because of your blog posts, so I convinced my dad to let me use my Thanksgiving break to come check it out. You'd be surprised how gullible my dad is. I mean, does anybody _really _do academic decathlon anymore? Honestly."

"Well, actually, my sister-"

"See, I've got similar trouble back home," the visitor barreled on. "Our local 'superhero' goes to my high school, and I know who he is."

"Wait, you do?!"

"Yeah, but no one believes me! Those unimaginative twerps back home can't suspend their disbelief for _two seconds_ to see what's glaringly obvious. All because of a mere technicality—so he doesn't seem dead, so what?"

" 'Dead?' "

"Our town has a ghost problem, believe it or not." He sipped his milkshake.

"Heck, I'm starting to think Superman's, like, son or whatever lives in this obscure little town in our insignificant little state. I'd probably believe anything at this point."

Mim reappeared just long enough to slam a new cup of water down on the table before disappearing back into the hubbub.

"Everyone knows ghosts are dead people, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Apparently not, I guess. Or at least, this guy is somehow, like, _half-_dead? I still haven't gotten enough evidence to prove it so he's not even admitting, let alone _explaining_ it. And it's obvious as frick, dude! They look and sound and act _exactly_ the same, but slap some different hair and eye colors on him and make the kid glow in the dark, and suddenly no one can see the resemblance."

"Dang."

Mim passed by and shoved a napkin with some scribbled writing on it against the guest's chest. She teased her hair and swayed her hips as she walked away.

The mysterious visitor glanced at the phone number scrawled on the napkin before shoving it in his pocket. After a beat of silence, the conversation continued.

"S-so I thought," the redhead stuttered and cleared his throat, "if I can come here and prove that heroes _are _hiding amongst high schoolers while performing superhuman feats like telekinesis and indestructibility, suddenly I won't be a lunatic anymore. Suddenly, I could see what no one else could. Suddenly, I might be _RIGHT_ about that asswipe Fenton."

For the first time in nearly a month, a sense of peace—or at least, potential peace—began to smother the jittery nerves plaguing Marvin. Here was a complete stranger prepared to believe the impossible, a stranger who exuded confidence and trepidation and gave promise of proving his credibility. _Finally_ there was someone who might believe him. Finally, with the help of an ally…

He could prove himself right to all of Happy Harbor.

The jitters came back, but this time they were from building excitement at the prospect of solving the mystery, of proving everyone wrong and emerging victorious.

"So, who are you anyway?" Marvin asked.

The stranger held out a hand across their table. "The name's Weston. Wes Weston."

Marvin shook the extended hand and grinned. "Marvin White. I think this could be the start of something beautiful."

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I hope I managed to catch you by surprise there!

I don't know if I can call Marvin the Martian an Easter Egg since it was in the actual YJ show... But, Mim is named for one of my dearest friends over in Wales who is an absolute doll of a person and not in any way similar to this character haha

I'm always open to feedback, as usual! Thanks for reading, everyone ;)

NEW NOTE: Gosh, you guys, I can't believe how many people have 'followed' this oneshot in comparison to my others, especially considering it's marked as 'complete!' I really didn't have any intention or ideas to take this further, so if you guys get any ideas, let me know and we'll see what happens! ;)


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